At the end of the day, closing a real estate deal always comes down to one simple word: Value.

At the end of the day, closing a real estate deal always comes down to one simple word: Value.Click To Tweet

 

But real estate has changed dramatically from the days of using note cards to track your cold calls. Technology has leveled the playing field and with more agents in the game than ever before, your ability to provide more value to your prospects over a longer period of time is what sets you apart from the competition. A great CRM can help make that happen.

 

Put Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy on Autopilot

 

Barry Jenkins is the Realtor behind the #2 Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate team in the US.

According to Barry, relevant content always wins. “We always come from a place of contribution, that’s why our drip content is so popular. It’s not like those long campaigns where you can tell it’s pre-written content.”

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A smart CRM will help you provide value-driven content to a volume of leads, without having to hire a full-time marketing team. If you want to make it to mega agent status, there’s no way you can deliver personalized relevant content to all your leads without a little help from technology.

Use your real estate CRM to create automated email drips and deliver relevant blog and social media content on a regular schedule.

 

Use Your CRM to Provide More Value to More Leads

 

Complaining about lead quality is a waste of time. The reality is, many of the leads that come into your funnel are just not ready to buy.

Use your CRM to deliver the kind of helpful content that will earn your prospect’s trust and help them get to know you. Each time you offer a valuable tip, insight or follow up, you’re one step closer to turning your cold leads into commission-paying customers.

And it goes both ways. “People think leads have value, but they don’t. You have to give them value by nurturing a relationship with them,” says David Keesee, CEO of Keesee Company and the creator of Sales Impact Academy. The more value you provide to your leads, the more value you get in return.

 

Automate Long-Term Follow Up and Close More Deals

 

“Two years ago, initial lead follow up was a big topic,” explains Barry. “But now there are so many solutions that do that, contacting the lead within the first five minutes isn’t enough to make you stand out. What’s going to help you stand out is staying relevant over a six-month period of time. I believe long-term follow up is what will make agents successful in the future.”

Now, there’s an idea worth repeating:

Long-term follow up is what will make agents successful in the future.

But how can you regularly follow up with hundreds of leads without sacrificing your sanity?

Yep, your CRM is the answer.

Depending on where they came from and where they are in the home buying or selling journey, your leads will have varying needs, wants and expectations. But meeting or exceeding those expectations can feel impossible without a long-term lead management system in place.

A watertight CRM will help you set up dedicated follow up drips that matches your leads’ buying or selling timelines and lets you easily track the status of all your leads from one central location.

No more late follow ups.

No more lost leads.

 

Maximize Your Lead ROI

 

Ryan Graham, principal at The Graham Seeby group has scaled to massive heights by systematizing and automating his team’s lead management and nurture strategy. This is especially important when you’re purchasing leads in order to make sure you’re not leaking cash.

“The best way we’ve found to improve our ROI is be system’s oriented. You must attack paid lead sources both individually, by the masses, and provide value on a consistent and long term basis. That’s not an easy thing to do when you’re talking about 10’s, 100’s, or even 1,000’s of leads per month. You must have many systems in place to make sure you’re calling, texting, emailing, and mailing to these leads quickly, and for a long period of time. AND, the content you’re sending must be relevant and provide value,” he says.

But systems-orienting thinking is very different from the kind of thinking you had to do as a solo agent. Just like working out or learning a new language, it requires regular practice and attention.

With the right CRM, you can build the system that works, get it up and running quickly, and easily visualize your key reporting metrics such as total lead count, number of follow up attempts and which team member has closed the most deals. A solid CRM gives you the exact insights you need to develop and hone your system for maximum ROI.

 

Improve Customer Service and 10X Your Referrals

 

Another thing rockstar agents like Barry and Ryan are famous for, is using automation to deliver exceptional levels of customer service (which then yields an insane number of referrals).

When you’re growing your real estate business, it’s easy to focus on generating new leads (and a great CRM can definitely help with that).

But the other half of the equation should never be ignored. Use your CRM to continue to provide value to existing customers well after the deal is sealed. You’ll be surprised at how easy and naturally the referrals start rolling in.

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An awesome CRM makes it easy to personalize your customer support and communication without sloppy notes or spreadsheets. For both new leads and past clients, you can use your CRM to provide up-to-date MLS property listings, helpful FAQs, personalized mailers and plenty of opportunities to give you their email address (or a someone else’s) so that you can provide them even more targeted information to help them in their home buying or selling journey.

And of course, everyone appreciates a quick reply. A great CRM gives your new and existing customers the right answers at the right moment.

 

Nurture Your SOI in an Easy, Organic Way

 

Never underestimate the power of your Sphere of Influence (SOI).

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Case in point: Ryan Graham and Justin Seeby of The Graham Seeby Group used their SOI to scale from $0-$90 million in four years. Yes, you read that right.

A stellar real estate CRM helps you keep in touch with your past clients, generate more referrals and harness the lifetime value of a lead, without ever feeling sleazy about it. It all comes down to creating a smart system that automatically delivers the right content at the right time.

“Every lead that hits our database goes into Follow Up Boss and gets set up on an action plan. It’s almost five years long. Every lead gets grouped by price range, location, area, what they’re looking for, and where they came from,” says Justin.

Whether it’s a reminder for a personal phone call (including detailed notes on your lead’s favorite pet or sports team), or an automated mailer on their 1 year anniversary in their new home, a great CRM makes the process easy and organic, never forced.

Every agent who has ever made it to 8-figure status has used a smart system to get there. And in this day and age, every smart system needs a great CRM to back it up.

 

If you are looking for even more ways to generate real estate deals check out:  41 Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas [Free & Paid] by our friends at Fit Small Business.

 

Bio: Dave Lawrence is the Head of Growth at Follow Up Boss. Follow Up Boss makes real estate lead conversion and sales follow up more efficient and automated allowing our clients to grow their business and make more sales.